Monday, May 06, 2013

7 Deadly Sins Challenge (Greed): Bejeweled

Welcome to the first official week of May! The weather has been so beautiful here, and it feels like we've gone from winter straight into summer, completely bypassing spring. I'm enjoying it currently, but I hope the temperatures don't continue to skyrocket.

Despite the shining sun I decided to go for a more winter-y look for today's manicure. The theme for this week in the deadly sins challenge is greed, and the first prompt is: "Go wild and use your most expensive and precious polish." My most expensive polish is Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe, but you've all seen that plenty of times here. Instead I used a dupe that I found on clearance last week, Sally Hansen Mermaid's Tale. I really recommend this glitter if you've been lemming for the DL version- it'll satiate your craving perfectly!

Keeping with the greed theme I painted a couple of realistic stones in a dark teal to match the glitter. I got this idea from the lovely Kelly of BASE COAT TOP COAT, and you can click that link to see her helpful tutorial. I'm pretty pleased with the way these turned out. I'm always a bit unsure of myself when painting these stones, but with a bit of trial and error they work out in the end :)

For the glitter nails I layered Sally Hansen Mermaid's Tale over American Apparel Hassid. For the stone nails I started with American Apparel Passport Blue. I then painted the facets with a striping brush and American Apparel Peacock, highlighting further with mixtures of American Apparel Malibu Green, American Apparel Office, and American Apparel T-Shirt.

As always, check back through the week to see the other ladies' luxurious nail art. This week theme will surely promise lots of sparkle!